INNOVATION TO IMPLEMENTATION: KEY FINDINGS FROM THE
NCTI DIALOGUE FORUMS
Presenter(s)
Heidi Silver-Pacuilla
American Institutes for Research
1000 Thomas Jefferson St NW
Washington DC 20007
Day Phone: 202-403-5218
Fax: 202-403-5454
Email: hsilver-pacuilla@air.org
Presenter #2
Tracy Gray
American Institutes for Research
1000 Thomas Jefferson St. NW
Washington DC 20007
Day Phone: 202-403-6841
Fax: 202-403-5454
Email: tgray@air.org
This multimedia report provides a timely view of opportunities in the AT
field and articulates tensions around which collaboration and dialogue will be
most productive.
Introduction
The passage of legislation such as IDEA 2004 and No Child Left Behind
(2002) mandates that special education children be taught to the same standards
as all children and holds schools accountable for their achievement. However,
for the nearly 7 million children with special needs, taking full advantage of
their rights to a high quality education requires support to learn in ways that
work with their needs.
Assistive Technologies (AT) offer great promise for these children. The
tremendous advances in technology in the past decade have led to the
development of speech synthesis and recognition technology, interactive
software, miniaturization and portability that already help these children
achieve and thrive. The promise and potential of AT has never been greater. The
question remains. What will it take for the field of assistive technology to
seize the opportunities in order to help more children learn, achieve, and
maximize their potential?
The
In broad ranging discussions and research over several years, NCTI had
identified gaps in communication between stakeholder groups as a serious
barrier to collaboration, ultimately affecting the development of high quality
tools for students with special needs. In NCTI?s role as an information broker,
we saw that the time was now to spark dialogue and discussion, identify key
trends and tensions, and strengthen existing networks among diverse groups
through collaboration.
In a series of forums conducted at trade shows and conference through the
fall of 2004 and spring of 2005, NCTI posed the critical question above to
diverse stakeholders. The forums revealed the dedication of many key leaders
that has contributed to and sustained the field. They also revealed a range of
complex external and internal factors that have converged, affecting the
research, development, purchase, and implementation of AT throughout the nation’s
schools.
AT has the potential to grow into a significantly larger share of the
educational market and to serve more children more effectively if it addresses
the current challenges identified in these discussions. This report provides a
prismatic look at this dynamic field, illuminating the perspective of
stakeholder groups as well as providing a unique synthesis. It is the intent of
NCTI to improve understanding of opportunities within reach, promote
collaboration, and encourage the development of technologies and implementation
approaches that will create higher expectations for students with special needs
and enable them to fulfill those expectations.
The Time is Now: Making the Most of Convergence
AT has been available for more than twenty years. Educators, researchers,
developers, and manufacturers have been using computers and other technologies
to create tools to help children with special needs learn. Yet the AT field and
commercial sector has not been recognized externally as a discipline with
identifiable work in scholarship, practice, and market.
A number of current factors are converging to create new opportunities for
students and the field. First, special education delivery now happens more
often in the general classroom, not in segregated special needs classrooms; AT
has proven instrumental in making the general curriculum accessible to these
children. Second, current reporting mandates mean that school administrators
are paying more attention to special needs children because their achievement
now plays a critical role in the success of their entire school system. The
third factor is the stunning innovation within technology itself, which has
become easier to use, more powerful and robust, and available at lower costs,
making it attractive as part of a school-wide solution.
The convergence of these factors creates an unprecedented opportunity. AT
has caught the attention of school administrators and technology coordinators
under pressure to increase achievement levels of all students while balancing
tightening budgets and staff who are dealing with increasing diversity in the
classroom. However, for the field to fully leverage the momentum, it must
resolve to address core challenges and respond with consensus to the
opportunities.
Key Findings
The Key Findings report is gleaned from a comprehensive analysis of over
thirteen hours of forum transcripts, representing a distinctive synthesis of
cross-stakeholder group perspectives. It provides a timely view of
opportunities in the AT field and commercial sector and articulates more
precisely those areas in which collaboration and dialogue among stakeholders
will be most productive.
Building Instructional and Leadership Capacity
Inadequate preparation,
low awareness, and gaps in leadership exist at all levels of the education system
undermining the implementation of AT. Few incentives or enforcement mechanisms
of existing credentialing standards creates a weak link in the preparation of
new teachers, resulting in waves of under-prepared professionals. While much
training is available through statewide organizations and others, the capacity
of these organizations is limited compared to the need.
Building capacity within teacher preparation programs and conducting
outreach to school administrators and other leaders is critical to
educate and raise awareness among professionals to ensure the effective
integration of AT for students with special needs.
Identifying and Leveraging Existing Networks and Resources
The AT field lacks a
recognized independent advocate and information broker. The needs of the AT
field? Research, development, funding, implementation, and marketing are not
well articulated and publicized. Other related agencies, organizations, and
consumers cannot identify a source of reliable and objective information about
the field or envision how their resources could be brought to bear on
identified needs. The lack of a reliable source of objective information on
product development standards and product effectiveness leads to duplication of
effort and precludes consumers from becoming informed.
The field needs a resource and dissemination advocate to raise awareness
and visibility of the field and its consumer needs as well as circulate
information back to stakeholder groups.
Addressing the Pace of Innovation vs. Implementation
Developers offer a host
of innovative, feature-rich products, but offerings may be too complex for
classroom adoption. The relentless pace of technology innovation provides
increasing possibilities for new features and affordability of innovative
applications and devices. The realities of using AT in schools, however, do not
necessarily support these potentials and increasingly complex products threaten
to discourage implementation.
Dialogue across stakeholder and consumer groups about this tension could
promote consensus about those features and products that students need most and
about the level of technical knowledge required for teachers and other users to
implement feature-rich products.
Developing a Research Agenda
All stakeholder groups
expressed concern about the growing pressure to address the mandate for
evidence-based research and product adoption but there is no consensus among
stakeholders about a common core of objectives. The existing research base is
insufficient to meet this mandate and stakeholder groups vary significantly in
their capacity to engage in such research. Additionally, product development
cycles are at odds with funding and research cycles, which are much longer.
Setting an agenda on research outcomes is critical for the aggregation of
data necessary to influence policy and maintain the field’s credibility within
the accountability climate.
Balancing Universal Design and Assistive Technology
Consumer products and
base technologies are increasingly incorporating accessibility and universal
design features. Innovative applications and equipment can now be developed
that rely on those features. There
is concern, however, that
purchasers with an understanding of universal design will overlook customized
technologies vital to the learning needs of millions of students.
Awareness and communication on the complementary nature of universal design
and AT are necessary to educate consumers and purchasers. More reliable
information needs to be provided to ensure that the needs of students are not
lost in the debate between the merits of AT and universal design.
Implications
The field is at a tipping point defined in large measure by policy mandates
changing the educational landscape and the pace of innovation changing the
technological landscape. To not seize this opportunity to promote the potential
of AT as a powerful part of an achievement solution would consign the field to
the margins of the educational reform effort.
NCTI is committed to pursuing the recommendations in this report with
stakeholder and outside groups through fostering collaboration and coordination
of efforts. The enormous work that has brought the field to the level of
innovation, implementation, and policy support that it now enjoys deserves to
be maximized in order that more children are enabled to fulfill their academic
and social potential.
Presenting the Findings in public forums allows the dialogue to continue
and engages more stakeholders in the effort to build consensus and leverage the
momentum to make a difference.
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